Most of the information we perceive throughout our everyday life reaches us through our eyes. This makes the human sense of vision one of the most important objects of research. When we see where a person is looking, we know what he or she is interested in.

In principle there are two types of eye-trackers, screen-based and wearable. Screen-based trackers are placed in the front of any display (TV, computer etc). A person is shown a stimulus on the computer screen, and the eye tracker measures the position of the person’s gaze.

From all available screen-based eye trackers we use the Tobii X2-60 Eye Tracker, which is widely used in neuromarketing labs. It has the best combination of precision and convenience of use for our nature of research. In addition our lab has X2-30 stationary eye-tracking and Pro Spectrum glasses.

In addition to screen-based and mobile eye-trackers, the ability to observe virtual reality has also emerged in recent years. This method is less frequently used. The experiment is more difficult to set up and the test results are more difficult to analyze and visualize. However, this could be termed as the third eye-tracking method, which enables stationary objects to move anywhere in the virtual world.

Although both technical solutions measure the same phenomenon – human gaze location – they do have several differences. The mobile approach creates more freedom for the test subject and can be more natural compared to the screen test. However, mobile eye-tracker has a larger measurement error. Where the X2-60 has an average measurement error of a few millimeters, Tobii Glasses 2 on the other has an average 1-centimeter error rate.

In addition to screen-based and mobile eye-trackers, the ability to observe virtual reality has also emerged in recent years. This method is not yet as common as stationary and mobile eye-tracking. The experiment is more difficult to set up and the test results are more difficult to analyze and visualize. However, this could be termed as the third eye-tracking method, which enables stationary objects to move anywhere in the virtual world. VR eye tracking is surely where the field is going to move in the future, but currently, many of the basic principles are yet to be tested. So using this as testing can be seen as staying ahead of the competition.

Sample sizes: The sample for the eye-tracking study depends on the study. The user-friendliness of the site can be tested by a few people (2-5 people per task is optimal). For packaging and advertising research, 20 people are enough. If there is more than one target population or package version to be tested, a larger sample size should be used

Schedule: Depending on the complexity of the study, the duration of the study can range from 10 days to a month. Usually, it takes about 14 days for applied research and a month or two for the research report.

Statistical Metrics: For eye-tracking studies, we use different metrics to describe the results, such as “Time to First Fixation”, which indicates the time it took for a person to first notice an element (logo, name, product) and “Total Fixation Duration” – how long did one look at a something. In addition to statisticians, it is also possible to present the results visually in the form of heatmaps opacity maps and gaze plots.

The movement of the human gaze from one point to another is both conscious and unconscious. Whenever a threat-related stimulus appears somewhere in our field of vision, we consciously try not to look at it, but before that the subconscious instinct intervenes and we look at it. Therefore, the colors, images, and symbols associated with the threat are very effective in drawing attention.